


Dreaming of Flight

by storm_of_sharp_things



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Dreamsharing, Feelings, M/M, Yearning, taking the first step
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:56:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29863962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storm_of_sharp_things/pseuds/storm_of_sharp_things
Summary: For Eames' Stupid Cupid 2021!Prompt: Flying"Do you ever have flying dreams?" Ariadne asked over the remains of takeaway sandwiches.Eames cut his gaze over to Arthur and watched his face go expressionless.
Relationships: Arthur/Eames (Inception)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 47
Collections: Eames' Stupid Cupid 2021





	Dreaming of Flight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Magenta_Light](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magenta_Light/gifts).



“Do you ever have flying dreams?” Ariadne asked over the remains of takeaway sandwiches. “I mean, I hear people do it all the time, but the last time I had a flying dream, I was a kid.”

Eames cut his gaze over to Arthur and watched his face go expressionless before he set his half-sandwich down in the center of a napkin and began wrapping it neatly.

“If you use Somnacin frequently enough, you stop dreaming naturally,” Yusuf said with a shrug. “So it’s kind of a moot point.”

Ariadne frowned. “But dreamsharing is really just induced lucid dreaming, right? We do all kinds of impossible things. Why don’t we fly everywhere in dreams?”

Arthur stood abruptly, his wrapped sandwich in his hand. “A shared dream is generally supposed to trick the mark into thinking they are in the real world.” His voice was clipped. “So it would entirely defeat the purpose to introduce such an anomaly.” He turned and strode away, disappearing through the break room door.

Ariadne stared after him. “Damn, what bug flew up his butt?”

“Wouldn’t fit in those trousers,” Eames said, pasting a smile he didn’t feel on his face. “Most people _can_ fly when we’re under, so feel free to try it at the end of the next test dream. Just don’t make a big deal of it, hey?”

Yusuf smirked. “Yeah, don’t do it in front of the patron saint of professional behavior out there.”

Ariadne screwed her mouth to one side. “Arthur does amazing work,” she said loyally.

Yusuf nodded. “Sure. He’s the best. Wouldn’t want to do a job without him. But he’s also the death of fun,” he added, before popping the last brownie in his mouth. “Right, back to the Bunsen burner for me,” he mumbled through the crumbs.

“Don’t worry about it,” Eames said softly to Ariadne as Yusuf sauntered off. “Everyone has bad days, that wasn’t anything personal.”

“Yeah? Okay.” She brightened. “I’m definitely going to try it though!”

* * *

Eames watched from the stairwell door as Arthur stepped up onto the edge of the roof and stared out over the cityscape.

If they weren’t stuck waiting out the end of test dreams, Eames was more inclined to shoot himself awake. It was quick and painless, done properly, but Arthur... If Arthur had the opportunity, he headed for a roof. Eames had seen him do it for years.

They were forty stories up, and Eames felt an queasy thrill shoot up from his knees as Arthur leaned over a little to look down the side of the building. Eames pressed his lips together tightly. He’d watched it dozens of times, if not more, but it still took effort to keep silent as Arthur spread his arms and fell forward. He didn’t think he could watch it again, he thought with a bit of despair.

He did not go to the edge, having no desire to see the results of a fall from this height. He reached for his gun to take an easier way out.

* * *

Arthur was already up and across the room by the time Eames opened his eyes. Ariadne dropped to a knee next to him.

“It worked!” she whispered. Her face was shining with delight. “I flew out over the ocean and caught a tradewind and watched huge schools of fish moving under the surface like shadows! And then I soared so high I could see the curve of the Earth and the air got hard to breathe and I dove through some clouds and landed on a mountainside!”

Eames smiled at her while keeping an eye on Arthur’s stiff back. “Did you have wings, or did you just do it by sheer effort?”

She grinned. “No wings. I just...jumped up into the air and concentrated really hard on getting higher until I got to where it felt easy. Like gravity just let go after awhile! As long as I stayed above that, flying was easy!”

“I’m really glad for you, Ari.” Eames tugged her close for a quick hug.

“Can you fly in dreams, too?”

“Yeah. Never had any problem with it.”

Ariadne chewed on her lip, following his glances to where Arthur was settling down to enter notes into his laptop. “I looked it up, earlier. Flying dreams are sometimes associated with creativity.”

“And often with freedom,” Eames said softly. “Depression, heavy responsibility, anxiety, trauma – these are all things that affect our dreams.”

“I only hear rumors about Arthur, you know.” Ariadne was studying her hands where they rested on the arm of Eames’ chair. “Other dreamsharers gossip about him _a lot.”_

Eames felt a tiny smile curl the corner of his mouth. “Well, he is fairly legendary.”

“Yeah, but who knows what’s true?”

“He’s been a point man, and the best in the business, for a decent amount of time. That should tell you something about how steady he is, how much of an anchor he is for others.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She sighed. “But I just...”

Eames shook his head. “Don’t. He’d shoot you, _probably_ somewhere non-lethal, if he thought you pitied him for anything. Well, besides Cobb. Even he admits he deserves all the pity for dealing with Cobb.”

Ariadne snorted and straightened. “Right. Well, let me go re-work that maze.”

“Let me know if you need any suggestions,” he called as she walked away. She snorted and waved a hand without turning.

Arthur glanced up at that, his jaw tight, and Eames sighed and heaved himself out of the chair to start reviewing footage of the mark’s cousin again.

* * *

“I have excellent hearing, you know.”

Arthur was standing at the edge of a tall bridge, one hand braced against a massive cable. He turned to look directly at Eames, who stood, half-hidden by the next cable, watching him. “I heard you talking to Ari.”

“I talk to Ari a lot,” Eames replied lightly, wandering closer. His heart was beating faster, but he fought to keep a relaxed expression on his face.

Arthur smiled. “This is a dream, Eames. Why so tense?”

“Well, darling, it might be that I don’t like the idea of you throwing yourself off tall things and expecting to go splat.” Eames took a deep breath. He hadn’t meant to say that. He’d intended to say something reassuring and then maybe snatch Arthur away from the edge and shoot him for both of their sakes. He restrained the impulse to shake his head - only in dreamsharing did that make sense. “Not to mention the actual splat itself. You’ve persuaded yourself that you can’t fly in dreams, and it is insanity to keep reinforcing that mental habit like this.”

Arthur’s smile twisted. “Oh, but everyone can fly in dreams, Mr Eames. Well-known fact.”

“Arthur...”

“Except for a few sticks-in-the-mud, of course.”

“I have never called you that to your face.”

Arthur barked a surprised laugh. “True enough. Does that make a difference in how you feel about me? Because apparently I lack imagination, as well.”

“Arthur, I said that _once_ to get more information out of Cobb. That’s not how I think of you, and I’m sure you know that.”

“Ahhh, but it’s common knowledge in dreamshare that I’m the most practical and dull one around.”

“Which leads people to underestimate you, and you take full advantage of that.” Arthur inclined his head slightly, granting that, and Eames continued. “You have more imagination than most people I know, so stop pretending this is about a lack of creativity.”

Arthur’s chin lifted. “Why you don’t tell me what _you_ think this is about, then?”

Eames took a couple of steps closer and looked at him seriously. “I think this is a bit of rage about freedom, and trust, and having to be the only responsible one. I think it’s frustration at not being able, or willing, to set all the heavy stuff down occasionally. And I’d guess that this is a familiar test of how you feel about that, but it is also masochistic lunacy. You don’t have to do this to yourself, Arthur.” Eames was a little taken aback at his own passionate outburst, but then he was so very tired of watching Arthur casually throw himself off things in a kind of ingrained habit that had killed others in the waking world.

From the look on his face, Arthur was also taken aback, and then his expression shifted to affront and suspicion. “What is it you think you know about me, Mr Eames? And if you’ve been trying to dig into my past, why?”

“Oh Arthur, you’re not the only one adept at research. I know a great deal about the things you’ve had to carry, by yourself, up to and including bloody Dominick Cobb.”

Arthur stared as Eames came to stand directly in front of him and took a deep breath. “And as for why? Arthur, you are the furthest from blind of anyone I know. It can _not_ be a surprise to you that I have...that I want...” In for a penny, in for a pound, he thought wildly, and plunged on. “That I fell in love with you a long time ago.”

Arthur blinked and took a shaky breath.

“Darling,” Eames said. “You don’t have to go it alone anymore unless you choose to. So let me help, yeah?” He held out his hand.

A long moment stretched, fragile and fraught, and then Arthur lifted his hand as if it were heavily weighted. Eames took it and pulled him close, savoring the feel of him in his arms – stiff at first, he relaxed as Eames rubbed his back and shoulders with gentle motions.

When their breathing began to fall into the same rhythm, Eames concentrated in a fierce effort. They rose slowly, their feet reluctant to let go of the surface of the bridge, but Eames forced them higher and higher. Ariadne had discovered how it worked for many people, and Eames was no exception in this. It got easier the higher they climbed until they passed some intangible border, past which gravity was no longer interested in them, and suddenly they were light as featherdown.

Arthur gasped and Eames grinned at him happily as he let the breeze waft them along. “Good, yeah?” Arthur shifted as if to let go of him but Eames kept his hold. “I fear your impatience, Arthur. Can you just enjoy it for now? We might have to do this a few more times before you try it on your own, you know. Just to be sure we break the habit of falling.” And, if Eames were honest, to give him more opportunities to drift, weightless, with Arthur in his embrace.

Arthur nodded, his face and eyes aglow with his delight, and Eames felt his heart thud almost painfully in his chest. He wanted to kiss him more than almost anything right now, but if he’d learned anything, it was that patience was necessary in this courtship, even when he offered the gift of flight.

He turned Arthur in his arms to face out while holding him securely from behind. “All right then. Where would you like to fly today, love?”


End file.
